Acer Brings Atom N450 CPU To $300 Aspire One AO532h Netbook

When we recently wrote up our "Best Of 2009" awards, we knew that those
netbook recommendations wouldn't last long. We didn't have any idea
they'd only last a few days, though. We had a feeling that the netbook
arena would get a lot more interesting in 2010 compared to 2009, and
sure enough, Acer is proving that notion right with its first major
netbook upgrade in a long, long time.

The Aspire One AO532h netbook is a huge step over prior versions thanks
to the Intel Atom N450 processor within, which is the first from the
company to ship with a Pineview CPU. We suspect that quite a few other
netbook makers will introduce netbooks of their own based around the
new Pine Trail platform at CES, but this is one of the first we've seen
to be officially announced.

Other specifications include a 10-hour battery, Wi-Fi, a 10.1"
LED-backlit panel, a multi-gesture touchpad and a chassis that measures
just 1" thin and weighs around 2.5lbs. The goal here is to provide the
performance of a lower-end, yet full-size, notebook, all while in the
shape and form of a netbook. Early reviews of Pineview haven't been as
impressive as some expected, but there's no doubt that it'll be more
potent than the 1.6GHz N270 that has shipped in so many netbooks last
year.

We're guessing that the multimedia performance will still be somewhat
lacking, however, given the omission of NVIDIA's Ion, but at least
Windows 7 should make things relatively snappy. Too bad it's the
Starter Edition, but considering that it'll be available later this
month in the US for just $299.99 (in blue, red or silver), we guess
that's a fair amount of computer to get for the cost.

The Acer® Aspire One AO532h netbook will be available for U.S. customers at leading retailers this month. A sample configuration follows.